Systems Neuroscience and Genetic Approaches to Study Sleep Regulation and Function

This meeting will begin by discussing new strategies for defining neuronal identity in diverse brain regions important for sleep. Identifying additional sleep regulatory components injects an added layer of complexity that makes it difficult to fully understand sleep regulation. As such, theoretical approaches for modeling how these new sleep-regulatory components might interact will be discussed. Importantly, the ability to identify and monitor specific neuronal subtypes is relevant to the future success of many topics presented throughout the meeting. Chief amongst these is a session devoted to understanding how metabolic factors impact the sleep-wake cycle; a long standing goal of sleep research. Although past meetings have included discussion on how sleep-specific electrophysiological signals (e.g. sleep spindles) modulate discrete brain regions, this meeting will examine how sleep impacts global brain dynamics in c elegans, Drosophila and mice and try and identify common, and evolutionarily conserved, regulatory principles. In addition, sessions will discuss the impact of sleep during development on brain functioning and the role of sleep in regulating of positive and negative emotions. Importantly these sessions will include the most recent studies using molecular-genetic approaches for identifying underlying circuitry and genes in animals as well as genetic and imaging studies in humans. New advances in the field using human transcriptomics and imaging techniques are shedding new light on the relationship between sleep and Alzheimer’s disease and will be discussed. Finally, since genes alter behavior by impacting specific neuronal circuits, we will conclude the meeting by discussing recent developments in identifying new genes that modulate sleep in mice and humans.